such is life

Bare with me as these blogs may come long overdue. We have had our share of power outages lately, some lasting a few minutes while others last a few hours. This past weekend was very relaxing as Saturday I read most of the morning interspersed with a few naps (or was it slept most of the morning interspersed with some reading?). Saturdays Beirut has class all day so she arranged for her good friend from work, Dayra, to pick me up sometime in the afternoon to show me around town. Well, living in Ecuador for a few months taught me to add an additional hour or so on to any time they tell me something will happen. I knew it was going to be a difficult estimation with a broad a time as ¨en la tarde¨. So I waited around, chatted with my ¨mom¨ for a little while and read some more. By the time 5:00 rolled around I was getting antsy to do something with my life. I decided to take a walk, but before I ventured too far I ran into my brother, Micki. He gave me a nice, hour long motorcycle ride around the town. Hato Mayor is definitely more extensive than I had anticipated. Something that has become more and more apparent to me is the incredible hospitality that the Dominicans exemplify. Micki and I had stopped at a friend´s house part way through the ride; we weren´t even in the house two minutes and she was already preparing a fresh glass of fruit juice for us. Everything else in the house stops when company arrives--expected or not. I hadn´t been home for 5 minutes when Dayra and her 4-year-old son José showed up (at 7pm). We went for some delicious Bon ice cream and did some people watching in the park. The rest of the evening was spent on the porch enjoying the evening and company. I played mostly with José and our kitten as communicating with a 4-year-old and a cat seemed a little easier and more enjoyable than trying to decipher the lightning speed Dominican Spanish. Why don´t we do the (front) porch sit anymore?

Sunday I went to church with Beirut, yet another strange experience for me. Her church is the most Pentecostal church to which I have ever been (that doesn´t say too much as it´s pretty much the first). Lots of yelling, dancing, shaking, more yelling, etc. Definitely out of my Mennonite comfort zone. Beirut, Micki, Dayra and I enjoyed the afternoon at the local pool, Las Colinas. It looks pretty much like a resort area pool with a luxurious swim up bar and a little island in the middle. Nobody else seemed interested in joining me for a swim. I was just thrilled to do something that involved a little exercise. When time was up and I had to get out, there was (as I should have anticipated) a big, juicy, pre-dinner sandwich waiting for me. I know they can read my disgusted and repugnant expressions everytime they present me with more food. They just laugh and say `vamos a engordarte´. I don´t find it very funny.


Sunday night Beirut, her mother and I went back to the church for a baptism service. The music was very lively and moving. The electricity shut off three times for a few minutes each, and in those moments everyone seemed to worship even louder and stronger than before. We were at this service from 8-10:30pm, and we left EARLY.

Work has been a bit slow thus far as it has just been a lot of observing. If all four of our computers were working instead of just two it would probably be a different story. But, no one seems to be in a hurry to fix it. It´s just that relaxed latin culture sentiment, which, I must say is harder to get accustomed to than I thought. The most rewarding part so far is visiting the communities and seeing how such a small loan can empower those on the fringes of society.

Observations/Random Comments:
1. DR Spanish sounds completely different from the Spanish I previously learned
2. Dominicans love their music extremely LOUD!
3. They really know how to relax (maybe too much)
4. We have a cleaning lady
5. Mosquitos eat me alive (except when I am in my invincible net). I wear repellent like its my job.
6. Those who speak English are few and far between
7. Dominicans serve coffee like a little shot but add enough sugar for a large thermos.
8. Women are deathly afraid of getting their hair wet, which is inconvenient when most drive motorcycles. How do they solve this problem? Wear a shower cap of course.